The WHO estimates that the covid pandemic caused 15 million deaths in its first two years

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that covid has caused, directly or indirectly, 14.9 million deaths worldwide from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021. That total includes the 6.2 million deaths from covid officially notified to the WHO by its 194 member countries.

The rest corresponds to deaths caused by the coronavirus, but that were not reported as such, as well as those caused by other diseases that could not be treated due to the overload suffered by the health systems in the acute stage of the pandemic.

It is the calculation of the excess mortality produced in those two years.

That is, the difference between the deaths that occurred and those expected without a pandemic.

This result has also been influenced by deaths that from a certain point of view were "avoided" because the confinements reduced the risk of traffic and occupational accidents, spokesmen for the organization explained at a press conference.

The figure is lower than another estimate published in March in the journal

for the same study period: 18.2 million deaths.

“We focused on excess mortality because we know that in many countries the data from the tests was insufficient.

We also know that not all countries have a certification system (of deaths) that meets standard practices,” said William Msemburi, a statistics expert at WHO.

That is why, despite the fact that the mathematical models used by the organization are reliable, calculating how many deaths were due to unreported covid and how many were due to other untreated chronic ailments is a task that requires the collection of additional data, he explained.

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Dozens of lower-middle income countries did not generally report causes of death.

68% of excess mortality was concentrated in just 10 countries in the world, generally those with large populations and hard hit by covid.

The highest number of Covid-related deaths was recorded in India (4.7 million), followed by Russia and Indonesia (more than a million each) and the United States (932,000).

Following are Brazil (681,267), Mexico (626,217), Peru (289,668), Turkey (264,041), Egypt (251,102) and South Africa (238,671).

Higher mortality among men

The figures also indicate that mortality was higher among men than among women, with the former accounting for 57% of deaths, compared to 43% of the latter.

“These data not only point to the impact of the pandemic, but also to the need for all countries to invest in stronger health systems that are capable of maintaining health services in times of crisis, and that have strong health information systems,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"Measuring excess mortality (with respect to normal times) is essential to understand the impact of the pandemic," said WHO Deputy Director General for Emergencies Socé Fall.

“You have to understand the situation of the countries that did not have the capacity to report all the deaths, not even those directly caused because the victim had not undergone a test.

In other countries, there was an interruption of care for the chronically ill because the system and the staff were totally dedicated to the pandemic, ”he explained.

The WHO estimates that 103,937 people died in Spain from covid or from medical and assistance problems linked to the pandemic in its first two years.

It is a figure substantially higher than the 91,000 reported by the Ministry of Health at the end of last year.

Of course, their reports only include direct deaths caused by the coronavirus.